Seeing the potential of social buying, a lot of other “deal of the day” sites have sprung up lately and it’s all the better for us consumers. :) I’m kinda new to this myself; it seems to me that 50% – 70% off whatever product or service a company has to offer is the norm, although these “deal of the day” sites claim we should see offers upwards of 90% or more once in a while. I have yet to see those jaw-dropping offers myself, but I’m not gonna complain at getting something at “just” 50% off either, you know? :) I would think these sites might hurt a long time favorite of mine, the “Entertainment” coupon booklet, unless they switch to this type of “deal of the day” site as well.

I was a bit suspicious when their email showed up in red warning color in my email inbox, but after looking at their Facebook page, I guess they must be legit, with almost 7,500 people who like them? I have bought a deal from them; I’ll let you know if I still have all my money soon enough. :)

Let’s hope that these sites will become so popular that they’ll have a huge backlog of partners waiting for their turn and “deal of the day” just won’t cut it anymore. Instead, a “bundle of the day” will be in order, giving us consumers us a plethora of deals to consider every day. :D

Let me know if you have some more sites to recommend. In this beautiful but expensive city, we need all the deals we can get! :p

UPDATE: Everything is fine with Social Shopper… I was able to redeem my voucher without any issues at the restaurant. As much as I’d been a fan of the Entertainment booklet for a long time, I must say that this is even better (all those deal sites, not just Social Shopper) since those vouchers act like gift cards and you can use them to buy whatever you want. At the restaurant, this means you’re not limited to just entrees; you can use the voucher to buy appies, desserts or even alcohol if you want (unless the fine print says otherwise). Sorry Entertainment… It was good while it lasted. lol

I don’t mind the dangling shoes, but having a family of running shoes as a neighbor, does seem a bit ridiculous, though. :s

My travel credentials are nothing to rave about yet, so I don’t know if it’s more common than I think, but in my limited experience, I don’t recall seeing this “phenomenon” as plainly as in Vancouver. What’s with the dangling shoes anyway?! Is it just immature silliness or is there some urban legend behind it?

Whatever it is, you can barely walk a couple of blocks without spotting these “decorations” hanging from the electric lines. Sometimes they give me a good laugh: the best one was when I was biking to work and spotted not the usual running shoes, but ski boots hanging from the electric lines at the corner of Union St. and Jackson Ave! lol It’s a shame I didn’t have my camera with me to snap this most unusual sight, then.

Oh well, dangling shoes are part of the scenery here. Vancouver still manages to get rated among the most beautiful cities in the world even with them. So, no worries, really. They’re just odd enough in this author’s eyes to entice him to write an article about them. :)